Menendez intern, sex offender, arrested [Updated]

12/12/12 3:18 PM EST

An unpaid intern in Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez's office was arrested Thursday for immigration violations, the New Jersey senator confirmed on MSNBC.

Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an 18-year-old from Peru, was a registered sex offender and was arrested at his home in New Jersey, according to The Associated Press, which first reported the news. Zavaleta does not appear in New Jersey's online sex offender registry.

"Once it came to our attention, our New Jersey staff director let the young man go from the program," Menendez said.

"We know that we have a non-paying college intern program, this young man applied to that process, got recommended by the school, we asked status of all of those college interns. Didn't indicate anything about his status," he added. "And we certainly wouldn't have known through any background checks since he is a minor about any sex offender status."

The Associated Press reported that the Homeland Security Department instructed immigration agents not to arrest Zavaleta until after the Nov. 6 election, when Menendez won reelection. But DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said it's “categorically false” that the agency inappropriately delayed action.

“ICE followed standard process in coordination with its federal partners and local prosecutors before taking appropriate enforcement action,” Boogaard said in statement.

Menendez, who was appearing on MSNBC to talk about immigration reform, said his office was only made aware of the arrest recently.

"I didn't know about the young man's status until Monday, actually until I came on this program," Menendez said. "My staff knew about it on Monday."

"I'm assuming at some point you want to talk about immigration reform," Menendez said, appearing agitated.

Pressed on the relevance of a staffer being arrested in regards to his own push for immigration reform, Menendez shot back.

"Let's get clear, you keep say, 'working.' He's an unpaid college intern," Menendez said. "It's not like he's a staff paid person. We have a whole bunch of college interns. We give them an experience in the office. They answer the phones, they do some mail and most of the time they attend lectures of entities in the federal government that we bring through the office. So it's not like an employee."

Menendez then pivoted to immigration reform.

"It does speak volumes about why we need comprehensive immigration reform," he said.

This post has been updated to include a response from the Department of Homeland Security.